One Last Road Trip

I hate long road trips, but I LOVE getting to the destination.  Vacations are awesome.  However, they get harder with kids, and I imagine we're not going to be up for road trips for a while after Baby Girl gets here.  So, we decided to take one last road trip (for a while) and go to LA for Thanksgiving.  It was a blast!  So glad we got to squeeze in one last vacation.

Remember how I said that traveling with kids is hard?  Well, I've only ever traveled with one kid.  My sister came down with her four kids, and one of them is only 2 weeks old!  That's bravery at its finest.  And guess what?  Her 2-week old (Sadie) is pretty much the cutest thing ever.  I held her as much as I could and I still don't feel like I got even close to enough time with her.  Every time I held her I would just think, "Oh my goodness, I want a baby girl SOOOOO bad!!!!!  Oh wait...."  :-)  But while having your own newborn is the best feeling in the whole world - let's be honest - it's also incredibly nice to hold someone else's newborn so that you can get your newborn fix without also dealing with recovery/lack of sleep/etc.

Love her.  Miss her.  (Miss my other nieces and nephews too!)

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious.  Last year, we let Matthew have a tiny bit of mashed potatoes.  It was his first taste of a "real" food.  This year, he got his own bowl and got to go crazy with the food.  He was a huge fan.

The next day my mom threw me and my sis a small baby shower.  I'm so thankful for people who are so nice and generous.  And of course, the food was awesome.

There was also lots of time for play.  Grandma and Papa have such fun toys.

We also went to the beach and it was SUCH a gorgeous day.  Absolutely perfect weather.  And the older Matthew gets, the more he loves it there.  He definitely has some CA blood running through those veins.

And now, time to really start getting ready for Christmas and this baby girl!!!  Both are coming up SO fast!  I'm horrified that I don't have my tree up yet - but that'll hopefully get done tonight or tomorrow night.  Yay Christmas!